A growing scene has developed around social entrepreneurship in recent years. Various social enterprises have been founded, and networks and certification programs have emerged. One successful example from the Munich area is Leonhard gemeinnützige GmbH | Entrepreneurship for Prisoners.
Since 2011 there has been the Leonhard program, a rehabilitation program based on the American model, where prisoners can attend entrepreneurship courses before their release. Here, they learn the basics of entrepreneurship, marketing and business management, and much more.
However, this isn't a "traditional start-up course," as initiator and former lecturer at the Technical University of Munich, Bernward Jopen, explains. The course includes personality training as well as improving communication skills. The goal is to prepare inmates for real life so they can find their way as well as possible after their release.
350,000 euros are due annually
Financial sustainability presents a challenge for both newly founded and established social enterprises. Bernward and his daughter invested €50,000 of their private savings into the company for seed funding. Additional funding was secured through crowdfunding. Since 2012, the Leonhard program has been funded by the European Social Fund (80%).
Despite the proven success of the program, its funding is in danger of collapsing soon. According to Business Week The project will close at the end of June, and from that point on, Jopen will be short 350,000 euros annually to keep the project afloat. Therefore, he is now looking for private investors.
Study: Startup courses minimize relapse rates
As a joint study by the Technical University of Munich and Indiana University in the US shows, the recidivism rate among prison inmates who participated in the entrepreneurship courses is just under a quarter of the usual percentage (only twelve percent instead of 46 percent). The usefulness of the Leonhard program is also reflected in qualitative interviews with the participants: Most of them subsequently believed significantly more in their own abilities and also changed their attitudes "towards both their imprisonment and their fellow human beings," as wiwo.de the TUM study is cited.
Partners of the Leonhard program include the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie (SEA), UnternehmerTUM as well as the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE).
